Thursday, February 15, 2007

The record of the court

The first part of this post is funny. The second part of this post is LIFE. :)

Part 1 - Things actually said in court

ATTORNEY : When is your birthday?WITNESS : July 18th.ATTORNEY : What year?WITNESS : Every year.____________________________________

ATTORNEY : What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?WITNESS : Gucci sweats and Reeboks._____________________________________

ATTORNEY : How old is your son, the one living with you?WITNESS : Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can't remember which.ATTORNEY : How long has he lived with you?WITNESS : Forty-five years._____________________________________

ATTORNEY : The youngest son, the twenty-one year-old, how old is he?WITNESS : Uh, he's twenty-one.________________________________________

ATTORNEY : Were you present when your picture was taken?WITNESS : Would you repeat the question?______________________________________

ATTORNEY : Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?WITNESS : All my autopsies are performed on dead people.______________________________________

ATTORNEY : ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?WITNESS : Oral.______________________________________

ATTORNEY : How was your first marriage terminated? WITNESS : By death. ATTORNEY : And by whose death was it terminated? ______________________________________ ______________________________________Part 2 - I have died

I know, I said Part 2 is about LIFE. And it is about Life. But the last court example above reminded me of what had to happen in order for us to have real LIFE.

Since the attorney above is talking to the alive person, it should be obvious to the attorney that that first marriage was terminated by the death of the alive person's spouse. :) BUT... when it comes to our life in Christ, it was just the opposite, according to Romans 7. And this is the beauty of grace.

We were married to Mr. Law. Mr. Law was good, holy, pure, perfect. Have you ever known anyone who thought they were "it." Don't ask my wife that question, please. ;) But I mean, someone who is "perfect" and "wonderful." And this person is always pointing out how you lack perfection and how your life is not so wonderful. The problem with that person is that he or she is just as imperfect as you. That person, in reality, is a hypocrite. However, when it comes to Mr. Law, the perfection is perfectly perfect! Mr. Law can never be a hypocrite, because Mr. Law is truly perfect and good. Mr. Law is so perfect and good, that we really do love Mr. Law. Mr. Law truly represents God's perfection.

However... since Mr. Law is perfect, and we're not, the only thing that Mr. Law can do is to point out how imperfect we are! Mr. Law stands in full judgment of us because we have fallen very short of his perfection. Mr. Law points out all our imperfections, but the problem is that Mr. Law can do absolutely nothing to actually make us perfect! He is powerless to help us. Mr. Law can never say to us, "job well done" or "I approve." What his purpose in our lives amounts to is death and condemnation (2 Cor 3:7-9). He can never give us LIFE.

So... as great and wonderful as Mr. Law is, if we remain married to him, the end result is death and condemnation, because we will never live up to his standards. The reality is, if we want to find LIFE, we have to find a husband who is perfect, but who will never condemn us. That husband, of course, is Jesus.

But there's a little problem.

If we're married to Mr. Law, we can't just up and leave him! According to Mr. Law's holy standards, the only legal way to be free of this marriage is for one of the parties to die.

And guess who's not going to die. Ever. You got it. Mr. Law is not going to die. So if we're to get out of this marriage, the only way is for us to die.

And that's exactly what happened, in order for us to come to Jesus!

Rom 7:4,6 Therefore... you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another — to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God... now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

One thing that mankind could never, ever conquer or overcome, is God's holy standard as represented in the Law. But isn't God's plan so much better than we could ever come up with! God wasn't going to kill the Law. But He killed us so that we could be raised again with Jesus!

Gal 2:20-21 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."

Let it be stated in the new record of the High Court:ATTORNEY : How was your first marriage terminated? WITNESS : By death. ATTORNEY : And by whose death was it terminated?